Chapter 8: Workplace Stress and Aggression
There are several ways to handle the stress in the life. Despite having many stressors in the life, an individual must have to come up with some key traits to handle these stressors. The prominent method to handle the stress is arranging the leisure time I use to do different things, which make me feel better. To handle the stress effectively, I usually keep my sense of humor. The best way to a handle the stress in life for me is delegated the responsibility. It seems to share the risks and responsibilities, which reduces the stress (Matt, 2012).
I sleep less, and often, I contain the dissatisfaction regarding the food and drink, I often have some reservations on drink and food. Interestingly, it is due to the stress in the life, which makes me less comfortable with different things (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011).
The death of my family member is a big stressor in my life. My grandfather died last year, and it’s been quite tough to live without him. After his death, some family problem occurs, and I always think about several solutions and possibilities. Furthermore, being neglected in the different field of life is a big stressor for me. I am looking to find a reason for being neglected, and it seems quite frustrating. Keeping the sense of humor and delegating the responsibilities are two different traits to deal with these successors.
The meditation is a perfect technique to reduce the stress. It provides the resilience against the stress. It is a fact that easing the anxiety through the meditation is a pertinent technique for me, and it works effectively. The second technique is decompressing. The warm wrap around neck and shoulders for 10 minutes is a good trait to relax neck and back muscles. These are good stress prevention of reduction techniques.
Chapter 9: Interpersonal Communication in Organizations
There are many ways, which can be used to improve the active listening. For Instance a, the best thing for me is to use different questions to identify different issues that are unclear. Asking questions depicts intended focus, and it looks fruitful I the future as well. To be the good listener or improver, I have to come up with an open mind. Listening to others with an open mind can help to streamline different ideas and make the decisions at the end. Currently, there are several barriers regarding the active listening, and to prevent the future from this situation, I have to pay the attention. It is an appropriate trait to be the active listener. Furthermore, I have to be attentive but relaxed when listening to the speaker. Along with the attention, I have to maintain the eye contact with the speaker. These are some active listening skills, which must be adopted to prevent a similar situation from occurring in the future (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011).
In today’s world, there are many barriers regarding the active listening. The first barrier is a lack of formal training of listening. The effective listening always requires some listening ethics, which can be derived from the training process. People are not active listener in today’s world because they are usually distracted by many factors.
It is a fact that restating themes as conservations proceed to confirm and solidify the listener’s grasp of the speaker’s perspective. It is the effective listening skill, which can be developed think different perspectives and understand the speaker’s opinion (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011).
Chapter 10: Leadership Effectiveness: Foundations
The relation between powers, leadership is in the limelight. A good boss can use the power to a direct its employees towards the right path. It has been revealed that bosses in different organizations such as corporations and schools are looking to make the leadership influential through the use of power. However, critically, power may also create the gap between leaders and employees. Even in the decision-making process, the power is a big intervention that can create the negative impact (Beck, 2008).
There are many leaders, which are effectively leading to different organizations. I have worked with effective leaders in the retail company. When making the employee policy in the company, I observed that he was quite assertive to make some improvements. He was a good boss, as he wanted me to tell if something is going wrong, he was open and streamlined broad ideas. For Instance, during the employee conflict, instead of delegating, he worked with employees to seek out actual problems. It created the good impact on people, and it enabled the work sustainability. He was using the referent power bases, as he was liked and admitted by all employees in the company.
The experience with the good boss was good. Despite having the complex business situation and other operational complexities, he used to stay cool and calm. He often delegated the work along with the responsibility, which motivated staff. For Instance, he was participative in the decision making and problem-solving process (Hansen, 2018).
Chapter 11: Leadership Effectiveness: New Perspectives
There are many decisions, which are positive or negative in different major organizations. The decision-making process creates an important impact on the business process. Being a student of the business, it is necessary to derive some key insights regarding the leadership and learn different things. For instance, the big thing to learn from the effective leadership is to become the people oriented. The interaction with people can make a leader an influential leader. It is to be learned that the leader must have to make some hard decisions in the business. Interestingly, these decisions may create the negative impact for a while. However, these decisions are effective strategies. Using the effective communication is another skill, which is to be adopted in the leadership process. It seems a remarkable combination of qualities and skills, which makes the leaders effective (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011).
Steve Jobs was the remarkable leader of the Apple Inc company. He used referent power and made some exceptional decisions. With the democratic style of the leadership, he changed the culture of the company and made the Apple Inc the top technology company. He worked to shape the behavior of employees, and it worked in Apple Inc. We can derive some new perspectives regarding Steve’s leadership. Also, sometimes, based on the employee behaviors, he intended to depict effective supervision and organization of work along with some rewards and punishments. He liked to work constructively, which gave the biggest boost to the company. Steve job is a good example for other leaders in the different organization, especially in the decision-making process.
Chapter 12: Developing and Leading Teams
The five stages of the team development are forming, storming, Norming, performing, and adjourning. I was a part of the team in an organization, and these steps or phases of the team development were in the limelight. For Instance, in step one, the management intended to make clear roles and responsibilities. Team members intended to know each other in this first stage. In the second stage, due to the intense competition and different working styles, unproductive activities happened. Thus, team members were looking to eliminate obstacles and eliminate the differences in an effective manner. I was quite assertive in the Norming stage, as I worked with different team members to meet goals of the team. We started understanding each other effectively. In the performing stage, we became the mature team members, as team maturity was established. Several constructive ways were developed to handle different conflicts or issues. When I was the part of this team, I was looking to complete the final tasks and accomplish the team goals. It was the time of disbanding (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011).
Some formal team goals are quality, immense collaboration, effective communication, decision making, problem-solving, and the justification of the purpose, the informal goals of the team are the long-term relationship among team members, team bonding, creativity, and uniqueness.
The informal goals are consistent and supportive of formal goals. For Instance, when working in the sales teams, the creativity can help the company to bring the quality and efficiency. Furthermore, it seems interesting to use the team bonding to accomplish different tasks on time. Through the consistency and support, formal goals can be met, as there is a strong relationship.
Chapter 14: Managerial Decision Making
There are several problems that I have faced with the passage of the time. Interestingly, all three problems are a related to the uncertainty. For Instance, I was in a fiend group circle, and everyone welcomed me. However, suddenly, I was isolated or withdrawn. It was the uncertain thing, and never expected it. The second problem that I have faced personally is the road accident. It caused be back pain, injury, and I still have pain. It was also quite uncertain for me. The third personal problem is my uncertain behavior. In different meetings and gathering, I cannot control myself, and it seems uncertain to me (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011).
In a retail chain, some decision situations were triggered by the bounded rationality. Being an employee of this company, my decisions are bonded due to the limited thinking capacity. Regarding time and information, these limitations are also visible. In the decision-making process in this retail chain company, I depended on the knowledge management process to make several decisions. The limited information, cognitive value, and time are key factors in the decision-making process. Being a salesperson in this retail chain, I have a make decision in the limited time through the limited customer or market knowledge. The company has to revolve around this bounded rationality and plan accordingly (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011).
Chapter 16: Cultivating Organizational Culture
The culture of the company is formed and transmitted through different ways. For Instance, in the organization, being an employee of the company, I see the formation of the organizational culture through developing the organizational climate and some core values. These core values are sources of direction and cohesiveness to an organization and its employees. It seems imperative to cultivate the right climate at the workplace, which helps to form the culture. Interestingly, according to my experiences in the organization, it has been revealed that workplace attributes such as employee care, respect, relationship, work ethics, empowerment, collaborations and the consistent leadership can help to transmit the culture successfully. In an organization, these attributes are to be a sustained in the company, and accordingly transmitted (Fawcett, Brau, Rhoads, Whitlark, & Fawcett, 2008).
The role of the leader in the company in developing the culture is communicating the vision. For nurturing the culture, the leaders have to work with employees to identify some strength. Identifying the strengths of people is an identification of the strength of the culture. Based on this, the learning process through training and development can be enhanced. Thus, all these aspects are to be considered by the leader when developing or nurturing the culture.
In an organization, the culture shapes our behavior. Being an employee of the company, we have to carry core values. Accordingly, if we are intending to collaborate with the company, it can be done through the pertinent behavior. Some behavioral traits are born in the culture of the company, and employees are beneficiaries (Muchiri & Ayoko, 2013).
Maintaining traditions, talking about some core value, recognition of employee attainments or contributions, open communication, and Rigorous hiring practices are some key considerations to do maintain the culture of my organization (Nelson & Cooper, 2007).
Question 1
ABC News. (2010). Flight attendant now duty-free. [Video file] [4 min 18 sec]. Available from http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/flight-attendants-farewell-11371782
Many people identified with the attendant’s frustrations and agreed with his actions. However, many did not.
Consider Steve’s actions and respond to the following:
- What do you think of the Jet Blue flight attendant’s incident in comparison with others? Is Steve to be heralded as a hero or was he just bad at handling stress and conflict?
- What would cause an average person to “snap?”
- Have you been in a similar situation? How did you behave?
- Is there a relationship between stressors and conflict? Give reasons to support your statements.
- Have you been close to just losing control yourself or actually done so?
- What recommendations would you make to Steve and others who may feel stretched to snapping?
The jet blue attendant’s incident is quite different from others because it seems controversial. For Instance, it has been revealed that some people were backing him to create the awareness regarding the different emergency operation. On the other hand, some people think that he put all lives at risk due to his conflict and frustration. I think Steve was bad at handling conflict and stress, as the lives of people cannot be put at risk. His method of was not professional, and therefore, he cannot be a hero (ABC News, 2010).
The frustration can cause an average person to snap. On the job, an average person gets frustrated when he has to do same things repeatedly. Concerning the incident, he got frustrated when a passenger tried to take his bag during the flight. He snapped and walked away. He turned on the emergency activator. The average person cans behave different in differentiation, and it seems a perfect example of it (Golembiewski, 2000).
I have been in the similar situation, but I was in control. I am an average person, but I know ethics and responsibilities. I got frustrated at the workplace. However, I started listening to music to ease this frustration during the job (ABC News, 2010).
There is a relationship between the stressor and conflict. For example, Slater conflicted with the passenger, as he was stressed due to his bore career. He perceived this job quite differently, and it became his stressor of the life. Thus, the conflict is to be occurred due to the emergence of the stressor (Harris & Hartman, 2001 ).
I have been close to just losing control. Normally, I used to go to the bars late night. As usual, I got high. It is the situation when control; on myself becomes vulnerable.
The biggest recommendation for Steve, especially in this situation is to maintain his control and temper. He should not consider things with the single perspective, as he has to navigate both perspectives. It is the best method to be under control, especially in flight operations.
Question 2
Before you begin, be sure to review the following website and videos:
- Stanford Graduate School of Business. (2009). Keynote Address. [Video File] [59 min 20 sec]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAHal48eokk&feature=youtu.be
- Explore the Orfalea Foundation website (Links to an external site.) (http://www.orfaleafoundation.org/) especially the History, aspirations, and mission to gain an understanding of the organization’s development.
Respond to the following:
- How does a leader shape an organization?
- How does this change as market conditions change?
- What is the relationship of strategy to structure?
The role of the leader in shaping the organization is quite visible. For Instance, the leadership, based on the nature of the business, can choose several ways to develop an organization. First, a good leader usually intends to align with the culture and adopts the desired behavior in the company. It is the first initiative by the leader, and it works in the development process. Moreover, in the organizational development process, a leader must have to understand his fit to organizational culture. The most important thing is to drive the positive change with the passage of the time to integrate with the new contemporary business needs and trends. The awareness to derive the positive change in the company is a part of the development process as well. The leader shapes an organization through aligning with employees’ hearts and minds. It is necessary for an effective leader to streamline the common purpose in the organizations, as it is good to be the integrity as well (Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2009).
It changes with the market condition, as the whole organizational system, developed by the leader, is quite flexible. The organization contains the ability of the adaptability and versatility to absorb different changes with the passage of the time. Through changing behaviors and intentions, change is simple to implement in an organization (Robbins, Judge, Millett, & Boyle, 2013).
There is a strong relationship between strategy and structure. The strategy shapes the structure of the company, and it depicts the strong relationship. If a leader a makes a strategic plan for the company, accordingly, the structure of the company from down can be developed. The structure is to be shaped to implement the strategy in the best interest of the company, and it streamlines the relationship.
References
ABC News. (2010). Flight Attendant Now Duty-Free. Retrieved from https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/flight-attendants-farewell-11371782
Beck, M. (2008, April 3). Are you a good boss or bad boss? Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/04/03/o.good.bad.boss/index.html
Fawcett, S. E., Brau, J. C., Rhoads, G. K., Whitlark, D., & Fawcett, A. M. (2008). Spirituality and Organizational Culture: Cultivating the ABCs of an Inspiring Workplace. International Journal of Public Administration, 31(4), 420-438.
Golembiewski, R. T. (2000). Handbook of Organizational Behavior, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded. CRC Press.
Hansen, R. S. (2018). Dealing with a bad boss: Strategies for coping. Quintessential Careers. Retrieved from https://www.livecareer.com/career/advice/jobs/bad-bosses
Harris, O. J., & Hartman, S. J. (2001). Organizational Behavior. Psychology Press.
Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. W. (2011). Organizational behavior (13 ed.). South-Western Cengage Learning.
Matt, C. (2012). Safeguarding Employees from Workplace Violence. Security: Solutions for Enterprise Security Leaders, 49(10), 32-32.
Muchiri, M. K., & Ayoko, O. B. (2013). Linking demographic diversity to organisational outcomes: The moderating role of transformational leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 34(5), 384-406.
Nelson, D., & Cooper, C. L. (2007). Positive Organizational Behavior. Pine Forge Press.
Robbins, S., Judge, T. A., Millett, B., & Boyle, M. (2013). Organisational Behaviour. Pearson Higher Education.
Stanford Graduate School of Business. (2009, July 27). Keynote Address: Be Creative. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAHal48eokk&feature=youtu.be
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